POLICE are hunting an arsonist who started a last-day-of-term blaze at a Birmingham secondary school.

Flames ripped through a kitchen at Aston Manor School after the fire was started early yesterday morning – forcing it to close and giving most pupils an early start to their Easter holiday.

A man wearing a rucksack was caught on CCTV entering the school kitchen at 11pm on Wednesday although the fire was not reported until 6am yesterday morning. The footage showed the man setting fire to four separate piles of waste paper in a bid to ignite the whole building.

The attack comes less than a week after another break-in at the Phillips Road school, which police say may be linked.

Firefighters spent two hours tackling the blaze which was reported by the school caretaker.

Watch Commander Paul Johnson said it would have a ‘“devastating financial burden” on the school. “The fire door certainly did its job because without it the fire would have spread into multiple rooms throughout the school,” he said.

Police said they are looking for a light-skinned man in his mid-20s, between 5ft 8ins – 6ft and of medium build.